MPs’ business costs

Dame Caroline Dinenage

IPSA paid £2,598,090 against 2,292 published rows for Dame Caroline Dinenage between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Gosport BC. These are the costs of running an office and employing staff under IPSA’s rules. They are not salary, and the largest part of them is wages IPSA pays to the member’s employees rather than money the member receives.

By category, 2020-21

144 claims, £198,849 paid. The headings are IPSA’s own categories grouped; the categories inside each are named on the register page.

Category	What it covers	Claims	Paid	Share
Staffing	The salaries and employment costs of the people an MP employs to run their office and casework. IPSA pays these directly; they are not money an MP receives.	2	£135,617	68.2%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	108	£29,367	14.8%
Accommodation	The cost of somewhere to stay for an MP whose constituency is far enough from Westminster that IPSA's rules allow it. An MP representing a London seat is not eligible on the same terms.	23	£32,503	16.3%
Travel	Journeys between the constituency and Westminster and within the constituency. Until 2018-19 IPSA published one travel category; from 2019-20 it publishes travel by the MP, by staff and by a dependant separately.	11	£1,363	0.7%

Every year in the register

Dame Caroline Dinenage’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2010-11 and the last is 2025-26. Figures are not adjusted for inflation, so a rise between two distant years is partly a rise in prices. Select a year to read it on its own.

Year	Claims	Staffing	Office costs	Accommodation	Travel	Miscellaneous	Total
2010-11	129	£66,186	£9,925	£11,080	£5,169	—	£92,360
2011-12	236	£93,393	£14,913	£20,433	£5,033	£21	£133,794
2012-13	239	£104,070	£13,472	£19,436	£5,084	—	£142,061
2013-14	162	£97,477	£13,209	£14,250	£4,881	£234	£130,052
2014-15	123	£114,981	£12,765	£9,948	£4,586	—	£142,279
2015-16	115	£114,463	£17,444	£9,932	£3,953	—	£145,790
2016-17	134	£105,325	£15,035	£16,313	£5,822	—	£142,494
2017-18	111	£106,398	£20,647	£16,757	£4,808	—	£148,610
2018-19	135	£124,145	£20,317	£15,315	£4,893	—	£164,669
2019-20	120	£142,588	£21,330	£15,750	£4,293	—	£183,961
2020-21	144	£135,617	£29,367	£32,503	£1,363	—	£198,849
2021-22	120	£143,845	£18,073	£32,116	£4,262	—	£198,297
2022-23	150	£174,996	£19,813	£16,654	£3,688	—	£215,152
2023-24	153	£202,707	£25,643	£18,546	£4,842	—	£251,738
2024-25	150	£219,836	£29,870	£31,978	£4,044	—	£285,728
2025-26	71	—	£20,568	£1,688	—	—	£22,255

A year in which Dame Caroline Dinenage joined or left the House part-way through is a part year, and is not comparable with a full one.

What each category is made of, 2020-21

The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£132,552
Pooled staffing services	1	£3,065

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Advertising and contact cards	10	£11,440
Rent	12	£8,000
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	14	£1,791
Stationery & printing	16	£1,497
Landline phone & internet - installation & equipment purchase	5	£1,331
Working From Home Allowance	1	£1,169

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	12	£29,740
Council tax	2	£2,277
Utilities	9	£486

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Mileage - car	3	£547
Rail	3	£534
Parking	2	£179
Other public transport	2	£53
Congestion charge & toll	1	£51

Largest claims, 2020-21

The 15 rows IPSA paid most against, with IPSA’s own description of each. Read the description before the amount: IPSA publishes most of a member’s staffing as one row for the whole year — “Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the ⟨year⟩ year” — so the largest row here is usually a year of wages for the member’s employees and not something bought.

Date	Category	Cost type	Description	Claimed	Paid
31 March 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£132,552	£132,552
22 April 2020	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	SQ STANBURY CHAMELEON	£3,146	£3,146
27 May 2020	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Policy Research Unit (Conservative)	£3,065	£3,065
15 April 2020	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	SQ STANBURY CHAMELEON	£2,863	£2,863
15 April 2020	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	SQ STANBURY CHAMELEON	£2,863	£2,863
8 September 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,578	£2,578
9 August 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,578	£2,578
8 July 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,578	£2,578
10 June 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,578	£2,578
13 May 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,578	£2,578
8 April 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,578	£2,578
9 March 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,378	£2,378
9 February 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,378	£2,378
12 January 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,378	£2,378
8 December 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,378	£2,378

Claims refused and money repaid, 2020-21

3 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £2,159 repaid. A refusal is not a finding of wrongdoing — most are claims outside the scheme’s rules, or submitted without the evidence IPSA requires — and it is shown because leaving it out would show only the money that went out.

What this page does not show

Whether any of it was justified. IPSA accepted these claims under its own rules and the register records what was paid, not whether it should have been. A large total is not a finding about the member.

Nor how Dame Caroline Dinenage compares with another member. After staffing the largest headings are accommodation and travel, and both are decided mostly by where a constituency is: a member several hundred miles from Westminster is eligible for costs a member with a London seat is not. Two members’ totals are two sets of rules as much as two sets of choices, and the length of service differs too.

It is also not pay. IPSA sets and publishes MPs’ salaries separately and they are not in this register; the staffing figure here is the salaries of the member’s employees.

All MPs’ business costs · Dame Caroline Dinenage’s register of interests and votes · Sources